“ Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. ” – Paulo Freire, Educator

LATINO TEEN KILLED BY THE MIAMI BEACH POLICE FOR THIS

A letter R scribbled on the side of an abandoned McDonald’s. That’s all it took for Miami Beach police officers to chase down teenage art student Israel Hernandez Llach, tasing him repeatedly, until he lay dead on the ground.

Israel may have been running from police because he was an immigrant from Colombia, who had just recently received his papers, and he feared deportation. He was an art student who won awards for his paintings and had two sculptures displayed at the Miami Art Museum.

Had the police followed protocol, Israel would have been charged with a misdemeanor of criminal mischief for scribbling on a wall.

Tell the Miami Beach Police Department to hold the officers who killed an unarmed teen accountable.

Click here to see the original email we sent to members about this campaign.